Stars: 3/5

The popular HBO series Game of Thrones is off and running with the second episode premiering on April 21. After this episode, there are only four more episodes remaining in the series.

Many people on Twitter and other social media platforms were disappointed in the final season so far, especially compared to past seasons. People are mostly complaining about how nothing has really happened so far and that episodes have been uneventful. And to be honest, they are right. However, this doesn’t mean the episodes are bad.

So far, this season is doing exactly what the final season of a series should be doing. It is tying up loose ends and plot points that viewers have been watching unfold since season one. We as viewers also got to see characters that we love and ones that we love to hate interact with each other in ways that weren’t possible in previous seasons.

One of the most iconic scenes of the episode comes from the interaction between two characters that haven’t shared any on-screen time together since the pilot aired back in 2011. The last time we saw Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) together was the infamous scene when Jaime pushed young Bran out of a tower window after he caught Jaime having sex with his sister.

It was amazing and raw to finally see them reunited after eight seasons. It was even better when Bran said to Jaime what Jaime said to him when he pushed him out the window, “The things we do for love.”

This second episode was also an important episode for the female characters on the show. Watching Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) be knighted was one of the most beautiful moments of the whole series. Being knighted was all she ever wanted and it really brings her character arc full circle.

However, Game of Thrones usually only gives big emotional moments to characters who are about to die, so it makes me nervous for Brienne’s fate when they face the white walkers in the next episode.

This episode also reveals another big plot point that viewers have been waiting on since last season. We finally get to see the moment when Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) reveals to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) that they are actually aunt and nephew (even though they’ve been having sex) and that he actually has the highest claim to the throne.

This scene is well acted by both parties and you can see the change in Daenerys’ face when she learns the news.

Another moment that happened that isn’t really important to the plot, but garnered a lot of reactions from fans was the scene between Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and Gendry (Joe Dempsie). The two have had a romantic chemistry since they first met many seasons ago and they decided that the moments before the white walkers attacked Winterfell would be the perfect time for them to have sex.

Overall, the first two episodes of the final season haven’t been as exciting has some fans would want them to be. However, they have built up the action that is bound to happen the rest of the season and will make those moments even more exciting than they already will be.